22-250 first range results for best load. Advice?

[joshb]

i took my new gun to the range. I read through the 22-250 thread, and chose RL-15 with 52 grn. Hornady HPBT, for my 1/14 twist barrel. Shoulder bumped 1.5k Remington brass. Bullet 2k off lands. I started at 32.9 grains., moved up .3 grain increments, to 35.4 grains. At 33.2 grains I got a group of .43.At 34.4, I got a group of .36. My questions are: Will the "hotter load" burn up my barrel that much faster? Would I expect better results shooting jammed in the lands? The gun is an old, lightly used FN action with a 1in round heavy barrel in a walnut stock. I was very happy to get these groups out of it. Wondering if it might do better.

 

[MrMajestic]

Most people concerned with barrel life don't buy .22-250's. Shoot the most accurate load, take it out and kill as many small furry creatures you can until you can't hit them anymore and then screw another tube on and start the whole process over again. You are aware that they have threads right? ;D

 

[Patch700]

I wouldn't go blindly bumping shoulders any amount until I knew exactly at what point the shoulder was fully blown out . That may take as many as 3 firings depending on the condition of your brass and how stout they were.

In example , if your brass was unfired and you took a measurement of that from base to datum you certainly wouldn't bump another .0015" , you could invariably adding unneeded head space.

If these are already fire formed and you are bumping from that point then I would add that unless you are bullet sorting I would stay either further out from the lands (.005") or else start with a known .005" jam into , this would rule out possible ogive variances whereby one round may be touching and the other may be off the lands.

Good luck.

 

[40X Guy]

If you can source some CFE-223 Hodgdon powder you will be pleasantly surprised. Outstanding results in my sons 22-250 Savage. And follow Patch700's advice...

Frank

 

[bheadboy]

I found the best 22-250 loads in a number of different rifles by doing the following

fire 2 new cases, measure the case base to shoulder datum ( Hornady gage and dial caliper)
adjust the size dies to bump the shoulder back .002

use the hornady gauge to measure the throat length and set the bullet seat to jump .020

check the seated round oal base to ojive making sure the finished results gives the jump.

then load workup with one powder at a time I have had the best results with 4064, H4i4, using Sierra 55gr BK

Bob

 

[stacy]

I HAVE GREAT RESULTS WITH IMR-8208XBR W/52GR BULLETS

 

[joshb]

Thanks, MrMajestic: nice poke. I am aware of the threads. Call me cheap. Just want as much barrel life as I can get and still shoot smaller groups. Thanks Patch: The brass I used was from factory ammo shot through the gun. I thought 1 firing did the job. I have all the gauges, and measure twice. I read Tony Boyer's book, but I' m still learning and lookin for advice. Didn't know it could take up to 3 times to fully push the shoulder. For bullet sorting: is that by weight or measuring from base to ogive? Thanks Stacy: I have 8208, 748, 760, 4064, 4895,RL-15, Varget, and Superformance. Will try to locate some CFE-223. I think I could burn out the barrel just testing them all. I'll try some 8208 and 4064 next. One of the reasons I went for the 22-250 is that I reload a lot of .223 and .308, so I have plenty of bullets and powder.

 

[Eddie Harren]

Don't overlook H380

 

[joshb]

I have read that a lot of guys use it, with good results. I keep looking for some but can't seem to find any locally.

 

[CatShooter]

i took my new gun to the range. I read through the 22-250 thread, and chose RL-15 with 52 grn. Hornady HPBT, for my 1/14 twist barrel. Shoulder bumped 1.5k Remington brass. Bullet 2k off lands. I started at 32.9 grains., moved up .3 grain increments, to 35.4 grains. At 33.2 grains I got a group of .43.At 34.4, I got a group of .36. My questions are: Will the "hotter load" burn up my barrel that much faster? Would I expect better results shooting jammed in the lands? The gun is an old, lightly used FN action with a 1in round heavy barrel in a walnut stock. I was very happy to get these groups out of it. Wondering if it might do better.

You said nothing about the scope or other things, and nothing about the intended target(s), but none the less, for an FN in a walnut stock, you are doing very well.

It is easy to eat up a barrel, looking for the last 1/10 of an inch (don't ask how many I did that on), when the 1/10" will mean nothing in the end.

If you are shooting Soybeanus scarfus maximus, then you already have enough accuracy to exceed the maximum range of your chosen bullet. The bullet you have chosen will start ice-picking through little furry animals at 250-300, and sometimes closer. Give some thought to the 50gr Blitzking, the 50gr V-Max, or 55gr TNT..

You should consider eliminating some of the stuff before even testing it, because you can easily burn up two barrels, testing all the suitable powders.

With all of the powders (and you will find someone to recommend each of them), consider eliminating some of them in the beginning. If you shoot three or four seasons, you can eliminate all of the RL and Ball powders, and stick to the single base extruded powders that are temperature stable.

 

[M-61]

H 380 always worked the best for me with 52gr Sierras. This is a Colt Sauer, skinny barrel. Years ago I bought some PMC brass in 22-250 with small rifle primers. That shoots the very best for me.

 

[Patch700]

If you have tony's book then you are off to a good start . Search in his notes regarding finding the proper datum number to start bumping from.

Regarding bullet sorting , I'm referring to measuring the length of both bullets and completed base to ogive numbers.

Personally I had great success burning H380 along with H414 when using 50-55 grain bullets in a 12 twist.

Sounds like a fun project good luck... Don't get caught up trying too many different components as that will wear out a barrel much faster than any amount of powder lol.

 

[joshb]

Hey, Catshooter: I p.ut a 12-42 Nightforce on her. I made a wood "custom" front rest to use with an old canvas money bag, fiilled with sand, for my rear bag, for the time being. My main targets are paper, as I live in the east, in Delaware, where we have too many people and too little open countryside. Thanks for the powder suggestion.hey Patch: I'll get my nose back in the book. Thanks for the sorting info. I always use ogive measurements, when loading.

 

[Brians356]

H 380 always worked the best for me with 52gr Sierras.

38.0 grains? That was Bruce Hodgdon's pet load behind 52-gr bullet in 22-250 and was the basis for the commercialized powder's name H-380. But everyone knows that I suppose.

 

[Brians356]

I have 8208, 748, 760, 4064, 4895,RL-15, Varget, and Superformance. Will try to locate some CFE-223. I think I could burn out the barrel just testing them all. I'll try some 8208 and 4064 next. One of the reasons I went for the 22-250 is that I reload a lot of .223 and .308, so I have plenty of bullets and powder.

I like CFE 223 a lot so far (in 223 Rem) but with all those powders in your stash, some known to be very good in 22-250, I wouldn't be going out buying CFE 223 unless you are intrigued by the copper fouling "elimination" aspect - which is not without considerable merit. (So far in my 223 I have not found it completely eliminates copper, but compared to my cleaning regimen with other powders, it does dramatically reduce copper fouling. OTOH my buddy using it in his ARs claims he now finds zero copper fouling when cleaning w/ PatchOut which is what I use as well.)

The 22-250 is powder-friendly enough that you should be able to try no more than two of the likeliest powders you already own (say Varget and RL-15) and find a very accurate load, at good velocity, and probably from both powders.

 

[joshb]

Thanks for the suggestion, Brian. I saw some CFE once this past summer, during one of my powder hunts. It was gone when I went back. Now, I keep a reloading manual in my truck permanently. I got the other powders when I could find them, as I have several thousand each of empty .308 & .223 waiting for my attention. With the shortage, I figured I'd work up loads with a few different powders, so I could easily change with the supply. Wish I could find some VIhtavouri-135. My old favorite for my .308s.

 

[Brians356]

Well, it all depends on how much you shoot, and how quickly you will go through powders. I also have quite a collection, and will never be able to use it all up in my life. And, unlike bullets and brass, you cannot simply sell surplus powder off on Ebay, and with the HazMat fees, shipping it to forum friends is impractical as well. So I am trying to make efficient use of what powders I have, and not keep trying new ones.

As you and others point out, 22-250 is overbore enough to wear out a barrel if you tried to sample many of those powders. There are several powders in your stash which would almost certainly produce results unlikely to be surpassed by simply switching to another powder.

 

[joshb]

I hear ya. I'm retired, so I shoot quite a bit, when I'm not fishing. I also have a couple kids I'm bringing along into shooting, and a couple friends that"love to shoot my reloads", so I go through supplies pretty fast. I'm almost looking forward to wearing out this barrel, so I can get a faster twist for some heavier bullets.

 

[Brians356]

PS

Re: The hotter RL-15 loads producing tighter groups, and your quandary:

Have you been following Erik's load development thread? Bullet seating depth figures prominently in the method:

http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?topic=3814361.0

In playing with that approach lately, I have notice that, for a given powder charge, seating the bullet incrementally deeper produces incrementally higher velocity. (Not very earthshaking, that - seating deeper is reducing net case capacity, and increasing load density.)

So (without shortcutting Erik's recipe here, just using it as the basis of what follows) I have found that, given two powder charges that produce similar results (and form bookends of a "node") I can take the load with the lighter powder charge of the two, and find a deeper seating depth which will produce about the same accuracy and velocity as the higher-charge load at some shallower seating depth.

YMMV of course, and I may not finish up with the absolute best accuracy load possible, but if using somewhat less powder to attain your threshold of accuracy, without sacrificing velocity, is of interest, then seating depth is something you can tune in that quest.

 

[MrMajestic]

I'm almost looking forward to wearing out this barrel, so I can get a faster twist for some heavier bullets.

Now your talking Josh! I love shooting the 80 gr. A-Max out of my 8tw .223AI however the Chucks don't seem to have the same affection! :